“Bruising,” they always say about the kind of week that’s happened to Iain Duncan Smith. As I write, it’s only Tuesday. You’d have to ask, without wishing the minister ill, at what point a bruise turns into an internal haemorrhage.

He started on the Today programme on Monday, maintaining that the problems with universal credit were mere trifles, because look at the shambles that was the working family tax credit. I remember that, but only just – it was a decade ago. Some of the payments were delayed, and a lot of overpayment was clawed back. If I were IDS, I wouldn’t mention it. Not because it looks pathetic, trying to wriggle out of your own catastrophe by pointing to something that happened to someone else 10 years since. But because it recalls a time when this was the worst the Department for Work and Pensions would do to you: delay, overpayment and recovery.

All these things caused hardship and anxiety. Compare them, though, to deliberately withholding benefits on the basis of specious sanctions; mass-scale food-bank usage, as hardship tips into desperation; and a regime in the DWP that is as unlikely to overpay in a rush of generosity to the head as it is to accept opportunity and dignity as government objectives. This comparison serves Duncan Smith ill.

It is a curiosity of the opposition that not only is it silent on matters of policy, but it even waits for a minister to point out that New Labour’s cock-ups were kinder than his, and felt a lot less painful on the ground. Bring back Dawn Primarolo. (There’s a sentence I never thought I’d write.)

He has a point here. As a leader column in the Economist famously pointed out: “Questionable numbers have floated out of [his] office into the public debate like raw sewage.” Only that morning, he had claimed that Labour’s tax credit errors cost “£30bn in fraud”. Nobody knows how he reached this figure. Even if he rolled overpayment together with every other DWP error, together with claimant error, together with claimant fraud, it still wouldn’t add up: not unless you then added in all other benefit error (plus fraud), and calculated it over 10 years. Realistically, how can you expect a statistics authority to keep up with a person like this?

The problem is – as Glenda Jackson demonstrated quite well at the end of the committee hearing in her audible exasperation – he reduces debate to the level of disbelieving outrage, rounding on his opponent with a patrician fury of his own. (My personal favourite was the time he turned on Owen Jones on BBC1’s Question Time and said: “We’ve heard quite a lot from you.” A nation waited, in vain, for the concluding “pleb” or “worm” that would have ended, or at least interrupted, his career. Next time, oppos. There’s always a next time.)

Whenever you think you’ve got him, that’s exactly the point at which he’s slipped away – because, the thing is, he doesn’t care about accuracy. He doesn’t care about being reprimanded; his own reputation for truthfulness is a price he is prepared to pay, to get this untreated sewage floating around the debate. (In truth, he took that hit some time ago.)

He doesn’t care that the money frittered away by this reckless, apparently unstewarded project is more than it will ever save; that IT costs met with a shrug today will reverberate into most unjust parsimony tomorrow.

He doesn’t care about the internal logic of his position, that a man so in thrall to the benefits of wedlock has created a system in which large families will have no choice but to separate into two households. He doesn’t care about the shonky foundations of the welfare cap – that for want of an open debate about statutory rights, it is really just a cap on housing benefit, leaving people to scratch together the shortfall with their other benefits.

None of this bothers him in the slightest; indeed, it actively pleases him to hear it brought up, because the slur to his putative honour will justify the bluster he vents to obscure his real purpose. He wants people to stop being able to rely on social security.

From his perspective, the route is irrelevant; we could get there by a reasoned political process, whereby we agree – or at least our representatives do – that we no longer want a security net, that we no longer consider it our common purpose to look out for each other.

Or, failing that, we could simply make the system so incompetent and faceless that charities have to step in.

Or he could spread so much misinformation that we all lose faith in a government’s ability to plan or distribute.

Or he could demonise recipients so much that mainstream debate no longer felt able to distinguish between a fraudster and a claimant.

What he’s doing is pursuing all of the above, pell mell, in any order, and hoping for the best. Facts will never silence this tragically mis-named Quiet Man of Politics. We need to call his grand project what it is: not an accidental shambles but deliberate vandalism.

And what about all the deaths ? Are they sacrificed to boost this abject failures career…all he wants to do is prove to his party that he I’d their divine leader and should never have dumped him…he is wreaking revenge by killing off the most vulnerable …
Twisted and pathological.

Do not try to justify this guys motives, he has no direction whatsoever and is just toying with peoples lives.

He holds no credibility, even in the department he heads.
History is littered with this kind of dross in a position of power, in fact it reminded me of an incident that has come to light over the last two days.

Some soldiers, as an act of defiance against officers they regarded as muppets, decided to disobey a drill order and sat down as an act of defiance…………….

On a typically british bulldog act, the soldiers were subject to court martial and imprisonment and two dismissed.

Why was’nt there an investigation to find out if the soldiers had a point of issue in the capability of their seniors?

Old shithead Smith is in a similar position. His own staff are frightened to break rank and accuse him of being useless, the government lack the guts to admit he is useless, therefore the acts of the madman continue to “KILL” on an unprecedented scale, the likes of what this nation has never seen before!

Hitler was a complete nutter, but he too believed what he was doing was right…………

Behind his back there will be an air of rebellion, he won’t see it, but i am damn sure it is happening. His ministers are revolting, and i mean this in both senses!

Cameron will be starting to cringe as the brainless moron scrambles from one embarrassing situation to another.

He is in free flight, devoid of any direction, not knowing where to turn, like a dog lost in a lamppost factory……….

IDS will be the author of his own downfall. With Tory dissatisfaction looming and the knives appearing behind his back, it will only be a matter of time.

The generals are plotting and willing to put the bomb in a briefcase, at the foot of his table. When you are in a corner, you have nowhere to go……………

…………..his days are numbered, as are the deaths that his department are wholly responsible for, but constantly deny are happening.

You now see why most of the Tories will work things with their media paymasters, so the ignorant public will vote us out of the EU. Then they will have complete control with zero safeguards, and we’ll all be slaves for the next 50 years at least!

Your report about targets for benefit sanctions makes disturbing reading (Whistleblower says DWP staff given targets to stop benefits, 10 December). The Department for Work and Pensions recently announced that there were 553,000 benefit sanctions between November 2012, when the new sanctions regime started, and June 2013. This is an extraordinarily high rate and compares with an average of 300,000 a year between 2001 and 2210, according to the New Policy Institute.

Sanctions have been a necessary feature of the National Insurance system since its inception, but recently they have become far too prevalent. They often deprive people of financial support for trivial reasons – eg a blind man for not going after a cleaning job, or a man who failed to sign on when he was on a DWP training programme. A survey by Greater Manchester Citizens Advice found that two-thirds of those sanctioned were left without any income. The rapid expansion of food banks is partly due to benefit sanctions.

As a former senior manager of UK jobcentre services, I am sure that the present high rates are driven from the top in some way by performance management systems. Are ministers unaware of the vast literature about the demoralising effects of prolonged unemployment? Sanctions on this scale increase debt, demoralisation and despair and make people less rather than more job ready. Ian Duncan Smith should agree to the proposal from Church Action on Poverty, the Trussell Trust and the Child Poverty Action Group for a wide-ranging independent inquiry into benefit sanctions and their effects.
David Price
Sheffield

adult learning and career development
career development at work
employer engagement
enhancing employability
schools careers work
STEM careers
technology enhanced learning and career development
vocational learning
youth transitions and NEETs

nurse working for one of the two outsourcing giants assessing disabled people for the new personal independence payment (PIP) has told how its testing programme has been hit by huge delays, IT problems… and a staff rebellion.

The whistleblower, Laura*, has told Disability News Service (DNS) that assessments she completed in September on behalf of Capita have still not been submitted to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) for a decision on PIP eligibility.

Laura said: “I don’t like the idea that people I saw in September still haven’t got a decision.

“I feel so sorry for the claimants. They are lovely people in genuine need. They must be tearing their hair out.”

Meanwhile, a group of experienced Capita assessors have submitted a “grievance” to managers about the way the programme is being run, Laura claimed, and late last month met with Dr Stephen Duckworth, the disabled executive who leads on the PIP assessment for Capita.

Although DNS has not been able to confirm that the whistleblower is a genuine Capita employee, much of the information she provided has been confirmed by the company.

Some of it mirrors concerns about the assessment work being carried out by the other contractor, Atos Healthcare, but her claims suggest Capita may even be experiencing greater problems and delays than Atos.

Atos is carrying out assessments in London, the south and east of England, as well as the north of England and Scotland, while Capita is assessing claimants across Wales and the Midlands, and will eventually assess claimants in Northern Ireland.

Capita was reportedly so concerned about the delays to its assessment programme that it told staff it was bringing in three trouble-shooters from another part of the company.

Like the majority of assessors working for Capita, Laura carries out assessments in people’s homes, travelling by car from one assessment to another.

She said: “After two weeks training you are home-based and let loose to do these assessments. There is very little support, and they are very badly organised.

“The planning department – the people who organise the appointments – is under-resourced, and everybody says that the way they plan the visits is very inefficient.

“There is a lot of dissatisfaction among assessors. They want to do a good job but they are encountering a lot of problems.”

Among other claims, Laura said that Capita originally employed just one doctor to review all of the assessment reports individually before passing them to DWP, leading to a huge backlog.

Capita then began to train new auditors, but the advice they have been giving assessors after auditing their reports has often proved “inconsistent” and confusing.

She was also told by new recruits that – at the beginning of their training course – they were told to inform claimants to expect a PIP decision within 30 days of their assessment. By the end of the two-week course, they were being told only to inform claimants to expect a result “in due course”.

Laura said: “I don’t think it was set up well in the first place. It is common sense that one doctor could not deal with all the reports.”

She said delays were being compounded by IT problems, because every time an assessor experienced a glitch with their secure laptop, it had to be taken to Capita’s Birmingham “hub” to be repaired, as a fault with the security system meant it could not be repaired remotely.

She added: “I think Capita mean well, but the lack of organisation must be resulting in hardship for claimants because of the length of time it is taking.”

Capita did not want to comment on Laura’s particular claims, but a spokeswoman said: “PIP is an entirely new benefit and therefore requires a new way of assessing claimants’ requirements.”

She said that DWP’s “audit criteria” for PIP had been subject to “detailed scrutiny” so as to ensure that “exceptionally high standards are reached in every assessment”, which meant that “assessments due to be carried out in these initial stages are taking much longer than originally expected”.

She added: “Capita is working closely with DWP to meet the new rigorous audit criteria by investing in further training, coaching and peer reviews for existing assessors and auditors.

“We are also employing more health professionals and more call centre staff. Any delays experienced by claimants will not affect the date from which they are paid.”

When asked if Capita would like to comment on any of Laura’s particular claims, she said: “Capita does not comment on speculation or rumours.”

A DWP spokesman also declined to comment on Laura’s particular claims.

But this week DWP also admitted that there were delays to the PIP claiming process, particularly because assessments were taking longer than expected.

*DNS has changed some of Laura’s personal details in order to protect her identity

My HCP was called EMMA BRODRICK and the only thing she and her ilk care about, is squeezing as many claimants into an examination in a week, to satisfy their greed for money whilst condemning their cast offs to a life of poverty on top of the horrors they have already inflicted……………

@GEOFF. There is a time coming soon where we will have to face the fact that some people will never be able to work again due to health problems
It will be divided between ‘ we must care for them camp ‘ and ‘ they are a burden’ camp with the most vulnerable stuck in the middle waiting to see which way public opnionion falls..
Truely terrifying times for the most vulnerable in soceity..

TO EMPHASISE WHAT LOW LIFE SCUM, THE DWP ARE, I WOULD LIKE YOU TO KNOW HOW LOW THEY CAN GET IN AN EFFORT TO MAKE YOU WITHDRAW YOUR TRIBUNAL APPEAL OF ESA……

Today i received a letter from another faceless one, a MICHAEL HOOLE from Bradford Jobcentre plus;

The letter states that they have been in receipt of further evidence that i submitted to the HM Courts and tribunals service.

The letter states categorically, that the evidence i sent to the courts cannot be taken into consideration………..

I find this an act of desperation on behalf of the DWP as the courts service have already accepted this evidence and sent me photocopies back.
Given that the evidence was sent on the 26th Nov 2013 and the hearing is not until the 13th Jan 2014, i find this highly toxic, to say the least……..

Furthermore, the letter informing me of my appeal date, clearly states that further evidence must be submitted at least seven days before the hearing for it to be considered.

Hilariously disastrously stupid rich people. They simply don’t get that you reap what you sow, in some even very convoluted way. They aren’t going to be rich any more if everyone else is either poor or dead, or their kids are in re-hab etc etc. Too long to wait for that, I want A SWIFT, NOT CONVOLUTED SOLUTION.

We have to organise more and protest more in more and more diverse ways.

Mandela: “Never underestimate the power of persistence.
R.I.P Mandiba.

@GEOFF I think what would sadden me will be for disabled people being forced to justify their very existence for fear of being berated dismissed and classed as a burden and being either ‘ put in a home ‘ ( privately run of course to ‘save tax payers money ‘ ) or more ‘ severe measures will be used. Out will pop the closet fascists no doubt ..’ I don’t hate disabled but… ‘ brigade.

It is deeply tragic that a corporate insurance industry is feeding the msm with negative porttayals of disabled people in order to furthdr their own interests ..and the consequences of that is leadingt to vulnerable people ending their own lives. Surely there must be documents hidden away with these corporations that are only too aware of those consequenses ..the question remains is this deliberate or side affect of disability denier industry ..

@GEOFF yes i am familiar with FOM as i wrote about them a while ago on the void. Then Fairchild involvement with them and more recently aylward and his disability deception and the cods wallop belief book plus the Oakley hypotism crap added to it….

Leaked memo reveals Department for Work and Pensions staff were instructed to look online when assessing Disability Living Allowance and Attendance Allowance claims

Civil servants have been told they can judge whether to pay benefits to ­the sick by ­Googling their illnesses, after proper tests were scrapped.

In a memo leaked yesterday, Department for Work and Pensions staff were instructed to look online when assessing new claims for Disability Living Allowance for under 18s and Attendance Allowance for over 65s.

Shadow Work Secretary Rachel Reeves accused the Tory-led Government of showing “utter contempt” for disabled people.

The Labour MP said: “Out-of-touch ministers need to explain to disabled people how they’ve got to a situation where guidance is being issued telling civil ­servants to look for advice on complex disability cases on the internet.

“It’s just one more sign of the utter incompetence of DWP Ministers and their total contempt for a fair assessment process for disability benefits.

“It beggars belief that staff are instructed to look online for information on complex medical conditions until a full service is resumed.”

The fiasco comes after medical examinations run by hated contractor ATOS were scrapped and the rolling out of the new benefit, Personal Independence Payment — which is replacing DLA — was delayed.

Disabled people whose conditions have worsened are also being assessed by officials surfing the web.

The November 7 DWP staff bulletin stated: “Medical Practitioners will no longer be available as a source of evidence.”

Decision makers are advised to consult the “recognised internet sites such as Cancer Research UK and NHS Choices”.

Other suggestions include phoning the claimant or their carer, discussing the case with colleagues and seeking advice from social services.

But the DWP stressed officials were not just looking conditions up online.

A spokesman said: “Decision makers can also use information from sources including the claim form, care plans, medical reports and carers.”

……………………………………………………………………………

“STRANGE HOW THE DWP HAVE NOT COMPLIED WITH THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST FOR THIS MEMO?

If someone from the dwp has decided a disabled person is found to be defrauding the dwp, they don`t take them to court for fraud, they put them on PIP. Once you are a fraud you should be getting nothing = blacklisted. So why !! [cost & PIP figures] The DWP should be taking these so called fraudsters to court – I am waiting dwp – you say I`m defrauding yet you too scared to take me to court for payments of £350.000 over 30 years saying I am not disabled & have never been disabled. So dwp your denial factory is full of contradictions. Don`t you want your money back or is it left open for fraud. Backwards TARGETS stegrats !! No I will not go away DWP, fraud is fraud & the dwp are responsible for most of the fraud by the within the dwp itself !!

Unemployment figures down today lowest since 2009 all because of WRAG Work Related Activity Group means you are employed not unemployed. So the disabled people are keeping the unemployment figures low. Yes it`s all Work Related in WRAG.

Thatcher made the Incapacity Benefit to manipulate the figures the same, by forcing the hundreds of thousands she made redundant, with policies of death to the chavs and luxury lives for the fortunate, but even that horror of a woman didn’t also take their incomes away whilst fiddling the statistics. (Probably for fear of being dragged through the streets, and guillotined)

She may have unnecessarily burned to death and drowned 1500 young Argentinian boys to bolster her popularity, and partied with another well known mass murdering tyrant, Pinochét, but she did have a brain enough for self preservation.

As Cameron now pumps out sickening pretentious insincerity about Mandela, (when back in the 80’s at meetings over there, fully supporting apartheid) the hypocrisy and downright apathy, ignorance and stupidity of the British soap swallowing public in all this, makes one puke!

Best to be aware that we vote for the least harmful of our enemies, in all elections!

………..AND THE ABSENCE OF ANY COALITION MINISTERS FROM THE DWP, INSIDE THE PARLIAMENTARY CHAMBER, WHEN THE INCREASE IN FOODBANKS IS BEING DISCUSSED, IS DAMNING
EVIDENCE OF THEIR HATRED OF THE POOR AND DISABLED…….

In fact they did us all a big favour by walking out. It made the electorate more aware how, out of touch the evil bastards really are with the effects of their heinous policies……………..

It also showed how cowardly they have become in not facing their demons. Running away from problems they have created, shows a lack of control over strategies that are claiming lives on a nearly daily basis.

Tantamount to putting your hands over your ears, pretending not to hear and hoping it will go away. The type of thing that is expected of a spoilt school kid…………..

Up to now they have tried every trick in the book to hide the rising body count. Our media have to be congratulated on the selection of stories that have been used to mask the true horror of what is going on in this nation. Aiding and abetting a regime that kills wantonly is a crime in itself, but the money men pull their strings in a concerted puppet show to show otherwise……..

Believe it or not, yesterdays charades, showed the condems true colours, especially the laughing and giggling and raised voices trying to suppress the truth of foodbank culture.

I expect that both, shithouse number one, Smith, and his vile sidekick, Mcvey, shithouse number two, are on borrowed time.
Kaufman described her rant as the worst thing he had ever heard in 43 years in parliament……….
Smith’s lying continually, has placed the DWP firmly in the spotlight, mind you they need interrogating with regard to sanctioning that has elevated the role of food banks, in the first instance……………

Changing faces will be the governments next move, although this will not dissipate the evil, therein.

The circle of displeasure is gathering pace and the likes of this website, BLACK TRIANGLE, has been a first rate in portraying the myriad of discontent amongst the disabled community.

BROKEN BRITISH POLITICS –THE BIG LIE
This Country is run on a Capitalist System the Semi Socialist years of Old Labour were wiped off the face of the Earth by Thatcher .What ardent supporters of Capitalism like Thatcher,Blair and Cameron don’t or didn’t tell us is that Capitalism thrives on Unemployment and Underemployment .That is one of the Basic Factors of how Capitalism works .Now they are taking it a step further and introducing Mandatory Workfare .
We did not need to be Educated in Financial Matters to appreciate that Thatcher was decimating our Country in Favour of a minority getting Richer .She even employed her own Economist Alan Walters who if the Treasury disagreed with Thatcher Walters would argue her case ,this practice ended when both resigned through frustration .
Blair & Cameron are both Thatcherite protégé’s ,all three could look us in the eye and categorically state that the Countries woes were anything but the Greed of Capitalism .Benefit Fraud,Scoungers,Malingerers the Unemployed the NHS the Weather anything but any of the true reasons one being Immigration for cheap Labour .Leading Hedge Fund owners in the UK got personal remunerations last year of £2.5 Billion each .Politicians are in Charge get it right or put it right don’t push the blame like lame ducks .
We swallowed the Big Lie and continue to do so .No wonder they treat us like Plebs .http://brokenbritishpolitics.simplesite.com

This is one of the best posts I have read recently and thought DPAC readers would appreciate it. I have edited it slightly to make the many points within it stand out.

HOW TO WAGE A WAR UPON THE POOR.

Probably the most disgusting thing about this coalition has been their propaganda war against the most disadvantaged people in society. By the deliberate spreading of lies, they have facilitated a systematic assault upon the poor, the sick and the disabled. And they have knowingly misled the public for one simple reason, to enable them to totally dismantle the welfare state.

THERE ARE LIES, DAMNED LIES, AND THEN THERE ARE LYING TORY & LIBDEM BASTARDS.

The welfare state has led to a ‘something for nothing’ culture?
It may be utterly repugnant to hear millionaire politicians who have never worked a day in their life telling us that they are ending the ‘something for nothing culture’, but it’s also utter drivel.

Only 2.5% of the total welfare budget of £200 billion actually goes on unemployment, whilst the vast majority of unemployed claimants have worked, and paid taxes, for years and are now on benefits due to redundancy, sickness, disability or having to care for someone.
Millions more are receiving benefits due to poverty wages.
The Welfare state is actually a massive state subsidy to business which enables it to pay poverty wages and charge exorbitant rents.

Living on benefits is a lifestyle choice?
Only 0.1% of benefit claimants who have claimed for 10 years or more are actually unemployed.
Less than 5,000 people, out of over 9 million 16-64 year olds who don’t work, have been on Job Seekers Allowance for more than 5 years.
Less than 0.1% of the 20 million working age households have 2 generations that have never had a permanent job.
Despite strenuous efforts, researchers have been unable to find any families where three generations have never worked.

People won’t work because benefits are too high?
In 1971, JSA equalled 20.9% of the average wage.
In 2014, it is worth 10.9%.
These people are living in poverty.
There are 8.5 million people receiving benefits in this country.
There are more people IN WORK who get benefits than not working.
The majority of all housing benefit claimants are IN WORK.
6.1 million people classed as living in poverty are from households IN WORK.

People on housing benefit live in mansions? Our newspapers continuously bombard us with these stories.
There are around five million claimants of Housing Benefit; of which there were five families who received over £100,000 per year, all living in central London.
The average award of Housing Benefit is approximately £85 a week.
Only 3% of families received more than £10,000 a year support, and 0.04% received more than £30,000 a year.
And no-one ever mentions that housing benefit goes straight to the Landlord and not the claimant.

And those large families screwing the taxpayer?
There are around 130 families with 10 children and only 10 families with 12 children IN THE WHOLE COUNTRY who are on benefits.

Benefit cheats are bankrupting the country?
Benefit fraud amounts to about £1.5 billion a year, less than 1% of the entire budget.
To put this in perspective, the bank bailout equalled 1,000 years of benefit fraud.
Meanwhile, £1.3 billion gets underpaid each year and a further £16 billion goes UNCLAIMED every year.

We can no longer afford the welfare state? So who is really bankrupting the country?
Well, the richest 1,000 people now possess £414 billion between them, a sum more than three times the size of the entire UK budget deficit.
The richest 1% of the population are estimated to possess wealth of about £1 trillion.
The richest 10% control wealth of about £4 trillion.
The Quantitative Easing programme has increased the personal wealth of the UK’s richest 20% by enough to pay for Job Seeker’s Allowance for the next 100 years.

The people of this country are being shafted, but instead of the blame being directed at the real culprits, the rich, it is being aimed at the most vulnerable, the poor, with our own Government shamelessly leading the way.
And now they are going to pull away the last vestige of a safety net in the form of emergency crisis funds.
I’ve said it before and I will say it once more – they are truly evil.
Post written by (jc2021tf – Guardian comments)

@jay. They have been on about bbenefit
Overpayment and fines lately ..
I noticed in a statement Lord Fraud admitted that the figures for benefit fraud were quite low. How long has it taken them to admit that ? And look at the human cost of their negative propaganda against unemployed ..
Today I read in guardian a rich BTL landlord who owns 900 properties is talking about evicting all his claimant tenants because he don’t want ” scroungers ” in his premises .

I saw that bobchewie, the only problem with admitting it now is that the propaganda has taken effect on the masses who believe what they are told by the media.

It’s an obscenity that someone can own 900+ properties. I wonder if the tax inspectors are going through his tax returns with a fine toothcomb. No doubt if they found anything it would of course be an oversight or just a mistake.

This rich bigot has no complaints about the housing benefit HE receives from the taxpayer for his overpriced rents.
What a hypocrite, he cannot even see that it’s parasites like him that are amongst the real scroungers.
But with a complicit government opposed to rent controls he and his ilk are getting away with it and becoming rich on the backs of the tax payer.

Jay
you say ‘they are truly evil’. This unfortunately seems to be the case more and more every day. They are always pulling a shocker out the bag that is always worse than the last one.

I think everyone should read the work of Dr Andrew Lobacskewski. He wrote a book on evil in politics ‘political ponerology’ . He spoke of PATHOCRACY. How a pathological government can make people pathological also. He said he had trouble getting this book published under such oppression . Very disturbing stuff, but interesting and I am worried our Government are showing signs of this. I think am I overreacting but then I think of Atos and IDS.

Thousands of social housing tenants will be temporarily exempted from the bedroom tax as a result of a ‘technical error’ in legislation.

The Department for Work and Pensions yesterday issued an ‘urgent bulletin’ saying tenants meeting specific criteria should have the cut in their bedroom tax removed until legislation is amended. The DWP also said councils should refund deductions made since last April.

The exemption applies to tenants who have been continuously claiming housing benefit from before 1 January 1996 and have lived at the same address.

This is because the ‘eligible rent’ referred to in bedroom tax regulations does not apply prior to 1 January 1996, when a previous set of rules existed. A number of housing experts told Inside Housing yesterday, before the DWP’s circular, that tenants would have a good chance of using the loophole to overturn benefit decisions at tribunal.

The loophole was discovered by housing benefit specialist Peter Barker, after hearing that a tribunal judge had asked whether a tenant had been claiming since 1996.

Mr Barker, who estimates that up to 10,000 tenants could be affected, said: ‘This is 100 per cent watertight as far as I can see.’ Mr Barker said if tenants take ‘reasonable’ steps to try to show they qualify, and the council can’t disprove it, they stand a good chance of winning at a tribunal.

Sam Lister, policy and practice officer at the Chartered Institute of Housing, also said that claimants would stand a chance of overturning benefit decisions. He said: ‘This is a potential way out but until a case is decided by the upper tribunal we won’t know for certain.’

Tenants still of working age who have been unable to work long-term due to sickness or disability are those most likely to benefit from the exemption. The exemption applies to tenants who have had a break in benefit entitlement of no more than four weeks.

The DWP is likely to close the loophole by changing the regulations and the bulletin suggests legislation will be amended. The department’s bulletin said: ‘The department will however be taking steps to remedy this shortly.’

A spokesperson for the DWP said it believes ‘very few’ tenants will be affected.

@razor we had the usual bunch of idiot tory trolls on guardian CIF on this matter ..they had no argument it was cut n paste bollocks straight from daily mail ignorant gobdhites..
The scum rag and dailyhate have spun it to look like claimants have had a windfall. Ie even more of scroungers
And trolls try to blame pen pushers at DWP and chuck in shit about ppl getting free money…

While the Health and Social Care Information Centre
charges a fee to cover its costs, it does not make profits
from providing data to other organisations, nor does it
subsidise any applicants to receive it.
Any organisation can make an application for data
but must go through an application process and meet
the conditions for the release of that information
(see FAQ 39).

Recording a patient objection
GPs are best placed to manage patients’ objections in
relation to how PCD are processed. GPs can control the
extraction of such PCD by entering appropriate codes
into the GP record.

The default position for all patients is that PCD will leave
the practice where there is a legal basis; i.e. under the
powers of the HSCA or a section 251 approval. No codes
need to be entered in the record, these extracts will
happen automatically.

Where a patient objects, GPs should use the following
codes to record the objection:

• Prevent PCD leaving the GP practice – where a patient
objects to PCD leaving the GP practice use the ’Dissent
from secondary use of GP patient identifiable data’
code (Read v2: 9Nu0 or CTV3: XaZ89 or SNOMED CT
827241000000103).

• Prevent PCD leaving the HSCIC – where a patient
wishes to prevent PCD gathered from any health and
social care setting from leaving the HSCIC use the
‘Dissent from disclosure of personal confidential
data by Health and Social Care Information Centre’
code (Read v2: 9Nu4 or CTV3: XaaVL or SNOMED CT
8815610 00000100).
Patients can change their minds and reverse a previous
objection in which case the following codes should be used:

• Remove the block on PCD leaving the GP practice by
using the ’Withdraw dissent from secondary use of
GP patient identifiable data’ code (Read v2: 9Nu1 or
CTV3: XaZ8A or SNOMED CT 827261000000102).

Remove the block on PCD leaving the HSCIC by using
the ‘Dissent withdrawn from disclosure of personal
confidential data by Health and Social Care
Information Centre’ code (Read v2: 9Nu5 or CTV3:
XaaVM or SNOMED CT 8815810 00000109)

By recording both objection codes, a patient will prevent
PCD from leaving the GP practice AND prevent PCD from
other health and social care settings from leaving the HSCIC
(see FAQ 22).
If a patient trusts the HSCIC to receive PCD from the
GP practice, so that it can be linked and used for
commissioning or research in a pseudonymised form, but is
concerned about PCD leaving the HSCIC then only the code
which prevents PCD leaving the HSCIC should be used.

This code will prevent PCD from all health and social care
settings leaving the HSCIC. It should be noted that in this
scenario, PCD will flow from the GP practice to the HSCIC.
It will not prevent PCD flowing from the GP practice to
other accredited third parties where there is section 251
approval. In all cases PCD will only flow where there is a
legal basis. If a patient objects to disclosure of PCD for
secondary uses by the GP as well as by the HSCIC, then
both codes must be added.

As anonymised data, such as QOF data, are not PCD, they
will not be affected by these codes. Anonymised data will
flow to and from the HSCIC for all patients.

The BMA, RCGP, NHS England and HSCIC have developed a
leaflet that should be made available to patients and a
poster that must be displayed in the GP practice.
Information should also be included on the practice
website, in e-bulletins and patient newsletters to raise
patient awareness so that the fair processing requirements
of the Data Protection Act 1998 are met. A set of FAQs to
help answer patients’ queries has been produced and is
available at http://www.england.nhs.uk/caredata It is
important that patients’ wishes are respected both in terms
of those who wish to object and those who wish for data
to be used to benefit future healthcare. The HSCIC will
record the numbers of patient objections made at each
practice. Where there appears to be an abnormal number
of objections, the BMA and NHS England will explore with
practices why this might be occurring (e.g. due to any
misunderstandings or coding errors).

JUST THOUGHT THAT SOME OF YOUR CONTRIBUTORS MIGHT BE INTERESTED IN THE FOLLOWING PARAGRAPH TAKEN FROM AN INTERNAL MEMO THAT DWP CIRCULATED………………………

IT CONCERNS THE DWP DISTANCING THEMSELVES FROM ATOS HEALTH CARE PRACTITIONERS, WHEN IT WAS EXPOSED THAT THE MEDICAL REPORTS WERE SERIOUSLY FLAWED

EMPs will no longer be available as a source of evidence
(except for RPP cases). DMs may however use CCM guidance, Health and Wellbeing
Directorate recognised internet sites such as Cancer Research UK and NHS Choices, the
information in the claim form, request factual reports, ESA85 reports, care plans, information
available from schools or social services. They can also telephone the claimant or carer,
discuss the case with fellow DMs, colleagues, their HEO, or seek advice from DMA Leeds if
the enquiry concerns applying the law to the established circumstances. This list is not
exhaustive.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………..

AN EMP, (AS STATED IN THE FIRST LINE), IS AN EXAMINING MEDICAL PRACTITIONER, (ATOS HCP)…………………………………….

THE MEMORANDUM SPECIFICALLY STATES THAT THESE PEOPLE WILL NO LONGER BE AVAILABLE AS A SOURCE OF EVIDENCE!!!!!

WHAT IT REALLY MEANS IS THE MEDICAL EXAMINATIONS CARRIED OUT BY ATOS PERSONNEL HAVE NO RECOGNITION AS THE ANALYST DOES NOT HAVE THE MEDICAL EXPERIENCE TO FORMULATE SUCH A REPORT ON THE HEALTH OF A CLAIMANT…………….

……..in laymans terms;

“THE WORK CAPABILITY ASSESSMENTS THAT ATOS PROVIDED FOR THE DWP ARE NOT WORTH THE PAPER THEY ARE WRITTEN ON

………..extract taken from staff bulletin to DWP internal departments on 7th Nov 2013, as highlighted in Daily Mirror;

evidence to be obtained before a decision can be made on balance of probabilities.
12. In exceptional circumstances, should all sources of evidence be exhausted and it is still not
possible to reach a decision on balance of probabilities, the designated person may seek
advice from ATOS using the DBD 385 via the medical evidence wizard.
………………………………………………………………………………

…………..they are saying, the use of ATOS material in making a decision on a disabled persons claim, must only be used if every other avenue has been thoroughly exhausted…………….

A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO ATOS WERE HERALDED BY THE DWP AS THE MOST HIGHLY TRAINED FIRE BREATHING DRAGONS OF THE HEALTHCARE WORLD.

TODAY THEY ARE NOT EVEN ON THE BACK BURNER……

NAMED AND SHAMED AS THE CHARLATANS THAT THEY REALLY ARE,
“THE PRODUCT OF A STATE ENLISTED, DISABILITY DENIAL MACHINE THAT HOLD NO CREDIBILITY WHATSOEVER, A SHAM IN EVERY RESPECT”

…………a ruthless organisation that has brought about deaths in our community, sponsored by the DWP in collusion with another government department, Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunal Service,

BROKEN BRITISH POLITICS – SOVEREIGNTY DEMOLISHED – RIOTS IN UNELECTED EU STATES
The definition of Sovereignty – Supremacy of authority or rule as exercised by a sovereign or sovereign state. Complete independence and self-government. A territory existing as an independent state .
We can therefore reach the conclusion we having and enforcing 70% of EU Law are no longer a Sovereign State .Therefore we are Ruled by an unelected Body in Brussels through a minority unelected body here in the UK and we put up with their Nazi Agenda .
There has been Violent Riots in Greece ,Spain ,Italy and this week apart from the Ukrainian Protest in Sweden and France .Does that tell a story that EU member states are dissatisfied with their lot .
EU policies aim to ensure the free movement of people, goods, services, and capital , enact legislation in justice and home affairs, and maintain common policies on trade agriculture ,fisheries, and regional development .
Last week Barroso categorically stated to Cameron” free movement throughout the EU is here to stay” so what piffle about Immigration is the Liar Cameron giving us .Merkel is the Chancellor of Germany but seems to have more say that any other member state PM she stated recently that any EU treaties were not up for renegotiation .So was Germany’s forecast of the 1000 years Reich still in process .Merkel and Putin are having talks about the Ukraine’s future ,its like a bunch of Crooks have taken over totally ignoring us and carrying on as it is their right to do so .
So it looks like Cameron and his cohorts are Governed by the EU who leaves him to do as he chooses with us .No wonder they are so smug .http://brokenbritishpolitics.com

ACCORDING TO THE LAWS SET DOWN IN THE GENEVA CONVENTION, THE USE OF PSYCHOLOGICAL WARFARE IS BANNED, YET THE DWP BREACH THESE LAWS, EACH AND EVERY DAY…………

THE DWP UTILISE A UNIT, APTLY CALLED THE “NUDGE UNIT”, THIS UNIT IS MORE APPROPRIATELY CALLED, A PSYCHOMETRIC TESTING UNIT.

PSYCHOMETRIC TESTING UNITS ARE USED TO GENERATE POLICIES AND ACTIONS THAT CAN BE USED TO BREAK DOWN THE RESOLVE OF CLAIMANTS USING BEHAVIOURAL SCIENCE TECHNIQUES.

INDEED, RECENTLY, THE NUDGE UNIT WAS BROUGHT INTO LINE FOR USING PSYCHOMETRIC QUESTIONNAIRES ON CLAIMANTS THAT HAD NOT BEEN RATIFIED AND WERE CONDEMNED BY EXPERTS IN THE FIELD.

The ‘test’ that the DWP ‘borrowed’, and is forcing unemployed people to take on pain of losing their benefits, was devised by a US psychologist alleged to have devised psychological-torture interrogation programmes for the US military and the CIA.

The questions the DWP has ‘borrowed’ come from the ‘Values in Action Inventory of Strengths’ test devised by Christopher Peterson and Martin ‘Marty’ Seligman. In 2001, Marty Seligman allegedly convened a ‘counter-terrorism and psychology’ meeting at his home, attended by, among others, the alleged creator of the CIA torture program, Dr. James Mitchell, and CIA Director of Behavioral Sciences Research, Kirk M. Hubbard.
But that the DWP and its contractors are using a test devised by a man who appears to be closely-associated with actual psychological torture by military and intelligence organisations makes the whole matter even more damning – and one that should be occupying the attention of Parliament and the media.

UK CLAIMANTS ARE BEING USED IN AN EXPERIMENT, THEY ARE BEEN BROKEN DOWN, MADE TO FEEL WORTHLESS, UNCOMFORTABLE AND SADLY, SUICIDAL……………

THE LEVELS OF STRESS THAT THIS ACT OF PSYCHOLOGICAL DEBILITATION HOLDS, HAS NO BOUNDARY, AS EACH PERSON HAS A DIFFERING THRESHOLD TO THE AMOUNT OF PAIN IT CAN SUPPORT.

WARPED THINKING BY THE DWP HAS SEEN THE DEATH LEVELS OF INNOCENT CLAIMANTS ROCKET.

OUR GOVERNMENT IS COLLECTIVELY SUPPRESSING DEATH REPORTS ON THIS ISSUE, AFRAID OF THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE FIGURES COMING TO LIGHT.
YET INSTEAD OF STOPPING AND ANALYSING THE EXTENT OF THEIR MISGUIDED EXPERIMENT, THEY PLOUGH ON, AFRAID TO CONFRONT THE DEMON THAT THEY HAVE CREATED………..

SANCTIONING SOMEONE IS NOT ONLY A THREAT OR DETERRENT, IT IS ALSO A MEANS TO AN END, THE ABILITY TO SURVIVE OR DIE.

WHAT YOU ARE WITNESSING IS A TWISTED DERANGED POLICY THAT KILLS…………

THERE ARE REASONS WHY OUR GOVERNMENT SOUGHT TO USE SANCTIONS AS A FORM OF TORTURE, THE MAIN ONE BEING, IT LEAVES NO REAL VISIBLE SIGNS OF EVIDENCE……

BEFORE THE USE OF SANCTIONS WERE INITIATED, OUR GOVERNMENT FAILED TO DO ANY PROPER CUMULATIVE IMPACT ASSESSMENT ON THEIR USE.

STRANGELY, I HAVE INTERVIEWED ONLY SIXTEEN PEOPLE FROM MY VARYING DISTRICTS OF MY TOWN WHO HAVE HAD SANCTIONS APPLIED AGAINST THEM, FIVE WERE DISABLED, THE OTHERS UNEMPLOYED…………….

“EVERY ONE OF THEM HAD SUCCUMBED TO SUICIDAL THOUGHTS”

I AM NOT A DOCTOR, NOR AN EXPERT, BUT I AM WITNESSING A CULL OF HUMAN BEINGS NEVER SEEN ON OUR SHORES BEFORE.

As the election gets closer the figures for the amount of food banks will go down by 80%. The fiddled figures are there to give people confidence to show how things have never been better for people in the uk.

Crapita will be carrying out PIP assessments. Aided and abetted by their new acquisitions Premier Medical and Medicals Direct..
MDG is one of those insurance ones to help save insurance companies money
and Premier Medical is ” get you back to work quickly ” outfits. Ive posted about them on Johnny Void Crapita convention aka trade fair gig..
Premier Medical use Eclipse CRM software. Of which Ive posted the above link.

Hey using that software you can become a brand leader how about that ? The number one disability denier organisation in the country

To get a PIP Form – 1st you will be sent a Income Support Form to fill out, if the dwp feel you passed the non medical fraudulent test, you will be given a PIP Form to fill out = You can`t just get a PIP Form you have to apply through Income Support = No Medicals. Once getting to the PIP form, also the results will skip anything medical.

@razor so what is this crap about Crapita PIP contract and them banging on about these new medical firms they have acquired to carry out the assessments …gone to all that hassle for nothing ..oh by the way Crapita do benefit fraud too…i bet they love all that
shit….making ppl miserable

Btw Crapita are up to their neck in fràud
£100 million in cockup fund and thousands of pounds fraud in court translation cost fiddles. and they are hosting a welfare reform ttrade fair with us as ” the trade “.
And let them loose on us with their sham PIP assessments…its Unum and Atos all over again

The best economic figures on the day RBS lost £8 billion last year. The state owned bank RBS has wasted the tax payers money yet again. So if that is the best economic figures RBS can lose £20 billion in 2014 much better figures.

Here is a statistic to conjure : Cayman islands tax haven. Cayman islands residents = 60,000 . in one building there are over 18,000 businesses registered . as Obama said ” thats one big building then” or….

Has anyone seen the new govt transparency initiative ? The claim
is to hold those ” departments to account ” it says
Hmm so looking at DWP customer satisfaction we see it has gone up to
81%. Whaaat? Sanctions .jcp shit treatment of claimants endless spin and lies Atos WCA death toll bedroom tax suicides am I hearing a collective
Cry of ” oh do f*ck off ”

Then check out the ” lots ” of ” cohorts ” ( thats us folks ) that have been helped back to work using the work program
Oh look its about 12-14% an increase from a few years back…must be a resounding success then

Thank you for your Freedom of Information (FOI) review request which was received on 28
March 2013. In that request, you asked for a review of your FOI reference 5116.

You asked:

I am writing to request an internal review of Department for Work and Pensions’s handling of
my FOI request ‘U n u m corporations failure to record a conflict of interest.’.

Its quite obvious that there is a conflict of interest, hence your reluctance to answer.

Please be assured that your request has been given our full consideration and that all aspects of
your review were taken fully into account.

The review was conducted by an independent official of the Department, of the relevant grade
and authority to carry out such requests. The case has been examined afresh, and guidance has
been sought from domain experts to ensure all factors were taken fully into account.

After consideration the internal review has confirmed that DWP does not hold any information on
the Corporation identified above, as they are not connected to the DWP Medical Services
Contract.

You might find it helpful if I explain that Freedom of Information (FoI) Act is about the supply of
recorded information held by the Department rather than explaining or confirming whether your
assumptions are correct or not.

If you have any queries about this letter please contact me quoting the reference number above.

13. UnumProvident is actively engaged with the Government, policy-makers and large employers to share best practice and to see where our systems and approaches might be applied more widely. We are currently working with the Department of Work and Pensions on this, and have had discussions with officials in HM Treasury and the Prime Minister’s office. We have met with officials to help better understand the nature of the IB casebook, and to discuss how our commercial experience and expertise might be more widely applied. In addition, we will shortly be supporting the National Employment Panel in its work on the New Deal for Disabled People through a secondment of one of our senior managers.

BROKEN BRITISH POLITICS – UNUM ANOTHER CORRUPT VENTURE OF THE TORIES A little about Lawrence Churchill CBE (that means nothing Prescott is a Lord)He is Chairman of the National Employers Savings Trust .Chairman of Financial Services Compensation Scheme .Director of Bupa .Trustee of The Longevity Centre UK.CEO of Natwest Life and Investments .Served on Employers Forum on Disability and Financial Ombudsman Service.
Executive chairman and managing director of UNUM Ltd the European arm of Provident Inc,the worlds largest disability insurer .Remember UNUM they are the company that taught ATOS how to assess the sick and disabled on behalf of the DWP .With the four above’s previous I wouldn’t trust NEST with my worst enemies welfare never mind my money for my pension .Employers BEWARE .Unum is banned in seven state’s in America ,it has been involved in this country’s health programme since 1994 .Hence NHS reforms Welfare Reforms and the involvement of ATOS ,not fit for purpose regime .31/10/12 The Government loaned to Nest in March 2011 £171 million ,just recently they gave them £9.8 million free gratis of Tax Payers Money ,the Tories are still milking the public purse.http://brokenbritishpolitics.simplesite.com

BROKEN BRITISH POLITICS –EU GIVEN PRIORITY OVER OUR JOBS
Benefit Sanctions are part of the DWP’s Claimant Control strategy whereby Claimants are Sanctioned for failing to do a number of things that do not meet the Jobcentre criteria for receiving Benefits .
The Tory mantra “get a job you scrounger” is so facial it is unbelievable .The Tories not value for money except for themselves philosophy is costing us Taxpayers millions of pounds wasted on Bogus Agencies .There is widespread repartition of job vacancies on the Governments Flagship Universal Job match obviously the website is flying at half mast as deceitful liar ID Smith is in charge .

An outside investigation found that 30% of the jobs advertised on Universal Jobmatch were fake. The input from Monster Employment agency falls spectacularly short of what we the Taxpayer are spending our money on ,they advertise and send out emails notifying claimants of vacancies using the repeated statement “Production Operatives” which leads you to the same vacancy every time .
The unrecoverable money wasted on the first IT programme cost us £146 million – what is it going to cost this time .

Within the last year 1500,000 jobs have only been Advertised within the EU and not here .Shambles Government shambles systems .A Benefit Claimant is therefore using an Official Website that is as unreal as Liar Smith .Claimants are blatantly Sanctioned for not applying for bogus jobs ,repeated same vacancies and jobs that are in existence but not on the site .The EU sponsors the Jobcentre Logo from the Social Fund at the same time as denying jobs in Britain for the British .
‘IDS faces a probe’ say many newspapers – what in his head .http://brokenbritishpolitics.simplesite.com

My name is Sarah and I’m working with the Who Benefits? campaign. My focus is on getting the amazing and powerful stories shared with the campaign heard far and wide to help change the debate on benefits.

Thank you for sharing your story with the campaign – you have already helped us to make an impact.

But with a General Election fast approaching and benefits still high up the agenda, the campaign now needs to step up a gear.

That’s why I want to hear from you. We want you and others who have shared their stories to get more deeply involved with this important and exciting campaign.

Will you help us to get your story heard in the media and raise the profile of the campaign in your area?

It’s simple – just complete this short form and tell us how you’d like to be involved. I’ll be in touch to discuss how we can take things forward and answer any questions.

I understand it might be daunting but you’re not going to be alone. I have lots of experience with this sort of work and will support you all the way through to ensure you feel comfortable and happy. I look forward to hearing from you.

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